Event tickets, such as tickets for access to sporting events, plays, concerts and/or the like, are usually sold, in bulk as a season ticket package or individually, through ticket windows at the event, ticket distributors located at department stores, large ticket agencies or directly between friends and business associates. Typically, the ticket is initially sold at a preset price which is printed on the ticket (known as "face value"). After obtaining the event tickets, the new ticket holders may not be able to attend the event, so they typically give the ticket to friends or re-sell the ticket on a secondary market, such as ticket brokers, at an inflated price.
Although the secondary market often allows ticket holders to re-sell their tickets, many disadvantages exist with the current methods of ticket redistribution on the secondary market. Since most secondary markets often lack proper discipline and organization, many original tickets remain unused, or are sold at an inflated price, while the event organizers receive no additional profits from the resold tickets. Moreover, organizers typically do not have a comprehensive ticket redistribution policy to fill many of the "no-show" seats, even though people may be willing to purchase the unused tickets, because the organizer already received its profits which were incorporated into the face value sale. For example, during the 1997-98 season, the NY Jets sold out every football game with 76,889 tickets per game, yet had an average attendance of 67,897, thereby resulting in 8,992 "no-shows" per game.
If the original ticket outlets are sold out of tickets and no tickets are available for the event, the secondary market is often the only way for people to obtain tickets to the popular event. People who desperately want to attend an event in which optimal seats are sold out are often forced to go to the event itself in hopes of obtaining tickets from a person who re-sells the tickets in front of the event arena (known as a "scalper"). The buyer is typically forced to deal directly with scalpers who will often offer tickets at an inflated price because the scalper must collect a profit from the re-sale of the ticket. Therefore, buyers are typically forced to drive long distances to the arena with knowledge of the possibility that they may not be able to obtain desired seat selections at reasonable prices. Often, many potential ticket buyers choose not to go to the event because of the inconvenience and uncertainty of the secondary market.
On the other side of the transaction, secondary market sellers are also hindered by the present secondary system because they often are unable to reach a wide group of potential buyers. Due to the typical lack of a large pool of buyers at a centralized convenient location, sellers are forced to either try to scalp tickets at the event itself or try to sell, or at times give away the tickets at no cost, to a social or business associate. Both of these methods are inefficient and inconvenient for the seller.
Moreover, many people who own season tickets have no convenient method for selling their extra tickets, even at face value, so they often give the tickets away or simply do not use the tickets. Resources are wasted because there are other people who would happily pay a fair price for tickets to an individual game. A convenient method of selling tickets on the secondary market is needed such that people have confidence in the resale transaction, the availability of the ticket and the authenticity of the ticket that is purchased and have a greater incentive to purchase season tickets because of the substantial assurance of re-selling the unneeded tickets.